Nico Schlotterbeck remains convinced Borussia Dortmund have ‘mentality, quality, and passion’ to contest Bundesliga title race | OneFootball

Borussia Dortmund defender Nico Schlotterbeck has issued more comments on his team’s Bundesliga title-race prospects. Schlotterbeck’s club wasn’t necessarily pleased with his vow that BVB were back in the hunt against league leaders Bayern Munich last week. Schlotterbeck nevertheless doubled down on his words on Saturday afternoon. 

Schlotterbeck shakes off poor match

The German national team defender wasn’t necessarily the most helpful BVB player in Dortmund’s narrow 1-2 away win at Wolfsburg. Schlotterbeck’s handball in the 51st minute enabled Wolfsburg to net the 1-1 equalizer off a set piece. Moreover, the yellow card Schlotterbeck incurred for the infringement (his fifth of the season) will leave him suspended for next Friday evening’s Bundesliga fixture against Mainz. 

“That hurts a lot,” Schlotterbeck said of his suspension when speaking to Sky Germany. “I’m the captain when Emré Can is out. I have to set the tone. We played a good first half today and a poor second one. That’s how it goes in football sometimes. They pressed hard and we were somewhat lucky that we only conceded one goal during that phase.“

Schlotterbeck remains confident

Schlotterbeck’s confident vow that Dortmund can challenge Bayern after last week’s narrow win over Heidenheim led to club officials pumping the brakes on Schlotterbeck midweek. In his latest comments on the matter, the 26-year-old seemed to deliberately strike a more subdued tone. The BVB skipper’s words nevertheless remained quite clear cut. 

“We showed today what everyone says we’ve been missing for years: Mentality,” Schlotterbeck told Sky. “We have the individual quality to decide matches. It’s important that we stay focused and believe we can move up the table. Of course, I hope [my words] it helped a little and that’s why the team won. The guys noticed that I’m passionate about it [the title race].“

GGFN | Peter Weis